engraved Heer captain's dolch

[TenorioM]

i welcome any feedback on this anton wingen heer dagger, dedicated to a Hauptman Luske, in october 1940

I would love to know what 5/19 means... unit? Platoon and company?

[TenorioM]

more images

[Frederick Prinz]

One of the nicer individualized daggers that I have seen. The gold filled engraving is a very nice touch that is seldom encountered. Treue um Treue is a not uncommon Imperial motto carried forward into the Third Reich era and is reminiscent of the similar Bavarian national motto. In this case on what appears to be a presentation dagger by the men of the unit that the Captain served with. A company commander was typically a Captain. And in the case of the 5th Company, 19th Infantry Regiment, it was stationed in Munich, Bavaria. Not a positive ID, but I think possibly a starting place in trying to find out some more information on Captain Luske. FP

[Worlddaggers]

Nice looking dagger, if you ever want to sell it contact me.
Thanks

[logibear64]

I checked the arolsen files at the National Archives and unfortunately they do not have a file
for a "Hauptman Lüske." However, the Arolsen files maybe have only about 1/3 of all Heer officers
it is probable that his file is among the missing.
However, the Korps or Division records might contain his name if he were killed, wounded, or awarded a DKiG, DKiS or Ritterkreuz.

Phil

[Rich Yankowski]

Very nice looking Heer that has a great personal touch! 8)

Worlddaggers,me first please!

[TenorioM]

Im happy to say Hauptmann Lüske has been found

Based on this info from WASt, the unit engraved is not 5 Komp. / Inf.Rgt. 19, but:

5. Fahrkolonne, Infanterie-Divisions-Nachschubführer 19, 19. Infanterie-Division

His other units shown in the document:

3/19: 3 Fahrkolonne, Infanterie-Divisions-Nachschubführer 19, 19. Infanterie-Division

2. Fahrkolonne 321: 2. Fahrkolonne, Infanterie-Divisions-Nachschubführer 321, 321. Infanterie-Division

As opposed to the motorized supply columns (Kraftwagenkolonnen etc), the Fahrkolonnen were horse-drawn supply columns, normally consisting or 3 officers (column leaders) and 90 NCOs and soldiers, with 36 two-horse wagons (700 Kg weight limit), 3 cars, 3 solo and 3 sidecars motorcycles. (Source of last paragraph: The German Infantry Handbook by Alex Buchner)

Given how hard it was to find him, and his absence from all the Raglisten, i think its fair to see the certainty re. the authenticity of this dagger is very high...

[logibear64]

If he has an arolsen file there might be a picture included.

Phil

[Wolfsschluct]

9 years late here but sometimes thats how history is. Are you guys still interested in a picture of Hauptmann Lüske? I have a couple of WWII photos of him with my Wifes great grandfather whilst in Poland (at least I think its poland), these pictures only came to light recently, but I thought Id do a search on Luske as he is named in the photos and found this posting. Let me know if youre still interested and I`ll get it sorted for you.

[Dennis Redler]

Yes, I would like to see photos of the Captain. What a great dagger and story. Congratulations on a terrific find.
Dennis

[Flyingdutchman]

Gentlemen,

I'm new to this forum and I just want to say hello first.

@Wolfsschuct
I just stumbled into this post. We are starting to do a book abouth German edged weaponries and we are thinking of featuring the Lüske dagger. So is there any chance to have a photo of that officer, please ? If so please email me at [email protected]
Thank you.

Kindest regards;
Hermann

[Wolfsschluct]

Sorry for the big delay, here is the best photo I have of Hauptman Luske with my wifes Great Grandfather Jacob Ebeling (far right), taken from Jacobs War Album. Location cannot be verified, but its more likely to be France 1942 (springtime by the foliage?) rather than Poland as originally suspected. If someone can decipher the writing, the other two soldiers names are there too, so possibly; (Meiger?), Hptm Luske, (Strakenwolfe?), Ebeling. They were indeed a horsedrawn supply unit, I have pictures of that too. Other pictures include Poland 1942 , France 1942 , Russia 1943 and more.

My wife and I would love to know more about Luske, Jacob and their unit, and we would also like very much to see Luskes Dolch in the flesh.
We are prepared to travel to Madrid to meet TenorioM to do so at some point in the future, if he will be kind enough to allow it...